Saturday, July 03, 2010

Of all things! Afghanistan! Questioning the Afghanistan war and calling it "Obama's choosing"! Honestly, I didn't know Michael Steele had it in him to utter a gaffe –a lonnnng gaffe, on video– so completely preposterous, so out of left field, etc., etc., that I am caught totally off guard. It's like he sat down and thought, "Hmmm... what is the one, single thing that each and every Republican on the entire planet agrees upon?"

We've been down this fun, giddy road before, where Michael Steele says something so ridiculous that it's hard to see how he can survive, yet like a Teflon®-coated punching clown, he bounces back up, grin never wavering, eager for more. But ridiculous is one thing, pure heresy is another, and already the hawkiest hawks agree:

Bill Kristol: "You are, I know, a patriot. So I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican party."

Erick Emerson: "Michael Steele must resign. He has lost all moral authority to lead the GOP."

Talking Points Memo points out that it might at first seem lucky that Steele made his amusing funny right before a holiday weekend, but in reality, all these hawks are on the Sunday shows (McCain, Lieberman, etc.) and will be asked to respond, and it won't be pretty.

So what's it going to be for Mikey? Will this one blow over, like all the others? Will Katherine Jean get distracted by something else? Will Bill Kristol bury his head back in Sarah Palin's lap, thus muffling the sounds of his calls for Steele's resignation?

I'm with Desertwind on this one. Bush went into Afghanistan the Democrats as a party never made hay trying to oppose it. (Far-left folks like Barbara Lee and Dennis Kucinich don't count.) Kerry wanted to wind down Iraq and escalate Afghanistan. Obama said the same.

Also, the idea that the Afghans never give up, that in 1,000 years no one has made them their bitch? Finally, a Republican gets some history right.

If Steele gets axed for this, he will actually have lost his job for speaking truth to power, a twist M. Night Shyamalan would have considered too preposterous to write.